Contentment in your staff can be a sign that your small business is well oiled and moving along nicely. Complacency – contentment’s cousin – in your employees implies lethargy arising from repetitive tasks. According to Padma Ramesh in “Content or Complacent?” no employee is immune to complacency. Your challenge is to identify complacent workers and stimulate them into productive action. Institute ways to mix up the daily routine and to energize your operation at all levels.

1. Engage employees’ minds as they prepare for tasks. Give employees a way to plan their tasks, suggests the Westfield Insurance website. Ask workers to decide which task to perform and the tools they plan to use. Give employees opportunities to anticipate challenges and potential problems.

2. Reward your workers with recognition and awards. Praise them for exceptional performance. Give workers perks -- such as gift cards or dinners -- for going the extra mile on a difficult or tedious project, recommends Lisa Leland in the article, “Fire ‘Em Up -- Motivating Employees.” Hold an annual awards banquet that employees can look forward to.

3. Provide employees with communication channels. Schedule meetings for employees to discuss projects and problems. Allow workers to freely suggest solutions from their ground-up vantage points. Show them you take their issues and proposals seriously by finding ways to implement workable ideas.

4. Give your workers regular performance feedback. Meet with teams and with individual employees to review projects and to evaluate individual performances. Provide objective assessments, telling your staff what they do well and what they can improve.

5. Give employees the tools they need to do their jobs with excellence. Provide on-site and off-site training to keep workers up-to-date on advances in their areas. Implement a tuition reimbursement system to develop talent to meet your growth goals.